New Dimensions
by Dragon Star Empress
Summary: After his big battle with Megatron Starscream wakes up to find him self trapped in a different dimension.
1. Chapter 1

I started writing this quite a while ago and figure since I'm getting close to finishing my ROTF Starscream story that I should go ahead and start posting this, maybe if get some good reviews on it it'll keep me focused on working on it.

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><p>Starscream moaned as he sat up and looked at his surroundings, the last thing he remembered was fighting with Megatron and now it looked as if he was back on earth, in the middle of a large forest and mountains. "<em>How the slag did I end up here?" <em>he thought as he struggled to get to his feet, flinching slightly at the pain from his many injuries then let out a frustrated growl when he realized his left wing which he had apparently landed on was so severely damaged that he wouldn't be able to fly.

Looking around all he could see were miles and miles of thick forests and mountains. "Well at least I don't have to worry about any humans seeing me out here and the Autobots are probably too busy dealing with the black hole to be looking for me yet." he thought as he started to walk through the forest.

After a couple minutes of struggling to get through the trees Starscream altered his size until he was about the size of a human so he could walk beneath the branches. "At least I still have some of the power I absorbed from Primus, now if I could just find somewhere to rest until my injuries heal." he thought as he continued through the forest.

After a couple hours of walking he came to a small open meadow and sat down leaning against a large tree at one side. After nearly half an hour he was just about to get back up when a deer slowly walked out into the clearing and started eating. Deciding he probably needed the rest to allow his body to repair itself just as badly as he needed to find shelter, Starscream stayed there and watched the deer.

Several minutes later the deer had come within fifteen feet of where Starscream sat, mostly hidden behind a thick row of raspberry bushes. Suddenly an arrow shot through the air and straight into the deer's chest, making Starscream jump slightly as he watched the deer fall to the ground.

He watched silently as a human stepped out of the forest, barely making a sound as she walked towards the deer. Her shirt, pants and even shoes were made of animal skins, her waist length black hair was pulled back in a braid. She had a quiver of arrows hanging from her back, a hatchet and large knife hung from her belt and she carried a bow in her hand.

Kneeling next to the deer she said something in a language Starscream had never heard before then pulled the knife from her belt and quickly slit the deer's throat, killing it, then she began to cut open the deer's stomach.

Starscream grimaced slightly as she began to pull the deer's internal organs out. Once she had finished cleaning it, she pulled two long sturdy branches over next to the deer and tied the deer to them then whistled. A moment later two large dogs ran into the meadow and she tied the branches to harnesses that the dogs wore.

"Okay, lets head home." she said as she lead the dogs out of the meadow.

Starscream waited a short while before following them, hoping that there would be some type of shelter where ever the human was going or that he could at least figure out where he was.

After walking for a long time the small path the woman had been following lead to the edge of a large, crystal clear lake. About fifty yards down the beach was a small cabin with a couple small buildings, a barn, a large garden and a small airplane hanger at the edge of the lake.

Starscream watched as the woman headed towards the buildings then after untying the dogs she headed into the cabin. Starscream quietly got closer to the buildings while staying hidden in the trees then froze when the woman came back out carrying several knifes. She skinned the deer then cut up the meat and carried most of it into one of the small buildings along with a pile of wood, several minutes later smoke was slowly billowing out of the buildings chimney.

She then laid the skin over a log and began scraping the remaining bits of meat off of the back of it with a dull knife. She then opened a large metal tub, filled it with water from the lake and put the skin into it before tightly sealing the lid back on it. Then after tossing the dogs a couple pieces of meat, she took the last of it into the house with her.

Starscream waited, watching silently as the woman came out of the cabin a couple more times, going into the barn and other buildings. Once it was beginning to get dark out and didn't seem like the woman would be coming out again he silently made his way over to the airplane hanger and slipped inside. It wasn't a large hanger, just big enough for the small plane that sat in the middle and the supplies that were stacked around the edges, but he managed to find a clear space along one wall where he could sit and rest. It wasn't the most comfortable place to recharge, but it was better than being outside with his exposed and damaged wiring.

Lareina was up with the sun as usual and after getting dressed and grabbing a quick breakfast she headed out to her barn. Once she had taken care of feeding her animals and cleaning out the stalls in the barn she grabbed a large towel, soap and shampoo then headed to the lake for a quick morning bath.

Once she had gotten dressed she started to head back to the cabin until she noticed one of her 'pets' pacing outside the hanger doors. Sighing she walked over to it, "Good morning Mowhewa did you chase Ethepate in there again?" she asked as she opened the door and walked in then froze a moment later when she spotted what appeared to be a robot sitting there. As she started to back out the door Mowhewa ran in and growled at the robot causing it's eyes to light up.

The robot quickly stood up, "Get that thing away from me!" he demanded aiming some type of arm mounted gut at Lareina.

In a split second Mowhewa jumped at his arm, biting down on it and successful pulling downwards so it was no longer aimed at Lareina.

Lareina flinched slightly as Mowhewa's teethe scrapped across the metal and hoped he hadn't hurt himself.

"Make your dog let go of me this instant!" Starscream demanded as he tried to get his arm away from the creature.

Lareina hesitated a moment taking a few breaths to make sure her voice wouldn't betray how freaked out she was, "He's not a dog, he's a wolf and if I get him off of you, you have to promise not to aim any type of weapon at me or talk in any tone of voice that could be interpreted as being threatening." she told him.

"Why you stupid little human, I could kill you in a second if I wanted to! You think you can tell me what to do?" he demanded angrily.

"No, but as long as you're making yourself look or sound like a threat to me, it would be pointless to make Mowhewa let go of you because he'd just attack you again the second he thinks you're threatening me. I think he thinks I'm his mother, so he's very protective of me, there's really nothing I can do about it." Lareina explained, silently praying that the robot wouldn't hurt Mowhewa.

"Fine, just call the thing off." Starscream said glaring at the wolf.

"Mowhewa, let go, it's alright, come here boy." Lareina said kneeling down as she called him.

Mowhewa let go and growled at Starscream one more time before running over to Lareina.

"Now, what are you doing in my hanger, who and what are you and why do you look familiar to me?" Lareina asked.

"I lead a large scale invasion of your planet, you probably saw me on the news."

"Wait a minute, an invasion?" Lareina asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I lead a massive army that filled the sky farther than any human could see, it would have been rather hard to miss." Starscream replied.

"Okay, I know I'm a little out of touch out here, but I think I would have heard about something like that during my weekly check in with the rangers." Lareina said.

"Perhaps they didn't think it was important to inform you of it, it was a short invasion, as soon as I found what I was looking for I left." Starscream replied.

"Sure, whatever you say. So who are you and what are you doing here." Lareina asked.

"My name is Starscream, I was in a battle and the next thing I knew I woke up in the forest." he replied.

"Starscream? Starscream, as in the Decepticon Starscream?" Lareina asked beginning to relax a bit more as she decided she had to be dreaming.

"Yes, how did you know that? I didn't think the humans knew that much about us." Starscream asked.

Lareina walk around him for a moment then said, "This is impossible, you're not real."

"What do you mean I'm not real?" Starscream demanded.

"I mean you're a cartoon character, the kids at the orphanage use to watch Transformers whenever they got a chance. Which one are you though, hmm, Cybertron maybe, I think that's the one you look like the most. If I remember correctly that actually might explain how you got here, although it still sounds a little too crazy." Lareina said as she finally stopped circling him.

"You're telling me you humans made cartoons about us?" Starscream asked.

"Well sort of, I mean it's not like anyone knew you really existed." Lareina replied.

"We invaded earth! How could you not know we existed? This makes no sense at all." Starscream demanded feeling more and more confused by the minute.

"Well first of all we have to make sure I'm right about which show you're from. Were you like really smart, managed to lock Megatron up and then became really powerful and got really big while your brain shrunk and you ended up being incredibly stupid and attacking your own creator?" Lareina asked.

"Don't you dare call me stupid." Starscream said angrily taking a step forward until Mowhewa started to growl at him.

"Well excuse me, I happen to think attacking your own creator is about the stupidest thing anyone could do." Lareina replied.

"Just shut up about it and get to your point!" Starscream demanded.

"Fine. Okay so you had a major epic battle with Megatron, there was a big explosion of power and then you woke up here?" Lareina asked.

"Yes." Starscream replied.

"Well on the cartoon they said it was possible you hade been blasted into another dimension and that's the closest thing to a rational explanation I can come up with. Well actually the most rationale explanation is that I'm dreaming, but let's pretend this is really happening, if so then you're now in a dimension where transformers are nothing more than cartoon characters." Lareina told him.

"This is insane." Starscream said trying to process the fact that he could be in another dimension.

"Believe me I know, but it could be worse, well for you at least." Lareina said.

"I'm stuck in another dimension, Megatron defeated me, I don't know how to get home and I'm stuck here until my wing heals, how could it possibly get any worse?" he demanded.

"You could have been from Armada or Generation one." Lareina replied.

"What difference would that make?" Starscream asked.

"Well from what I've seen Armada and Generation one have a massive fan base, I could have knocked you out and sold you to the highest biding fangirl. Lareina told him.

"Fangirl?" Starscream asked.

"Yep, there were a couple girls at the orphanage and a couple of the younger governesses who where insanely in love those versions of you. You wouldn't believe how many nights I lost sleep because of some of the girls and the one governess debating whether Generation one or Armada would be better in bed." Lareina told him.

"Better in bed?" Starscream asked.

"Yeah, as in better at having sex." Lareina clarified trying not to smile when Starscream grimaced slightly.

"That's disgusting." Starscream said.

"I know, like I said, you're lucky you don't have as many fans, although I'm sure there are some somewhere, maybe I should try selling you." Lareina said.

"You will not tell anyone I'm here, is that understood." Starscream told her.

"As long as you don't cause me any trouble, fine." Lareina replied, hoping that she wasn't making a mistake letting him stay, although she didn't really have much of a choice at the moment, she wasn't quite sure if she said he couldn't stay if he would just kill her and stay there anyways and part of her was still sure it had to be a dream.

"You can stay in here or in the barn, the barn would be warmer at night if you don't mind the smell." she told him.

"Fine." Starscream replied.

"Good. Now is there anything you need?" Lareina asked.

"Just some way to get cleaned up." Starscream said.

"There's some cleaning rags in that chest against the wall and if you're feeling up to it there's a mop and bucket in the closet that you can use to clean up where you bled all over the floor. I'll be somewhere nearby, if you need anything just holler I should hear you." she told him as she headed for the door.

"And who would I be calling for?" Starscream asked.

"Oh, my name is Lareina, Lareina Chartier." she replied before slipping out the door and heading towards the cabin.

As soon as she got inside, she shut the door and leaned back against it, "This isn't happening, this is impossible, there is no way this can be real, it has to be a dream. Or maybe I've been living out here alone for too long and I'm imagining things." She said to herself before shaking her head and going back to doing the days chores.


	2. Chapter 2

This will probably be the last chapter I post for a little while, I'll be leaving on Tuesday to stay with my aunt and uncle at my great grandpa's farm, there's no internet accesses there and last time I stayed with them I was there for about two weeks. On the bright side last time I was there I got a ton of writing done, so I should have new chapters ready to post for a bunch of my stories when I get home.

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><p>By the next morning Starscream's injuries had fully healed and he stepped out of the hanger to find Lareina had stretched the deer hide out and was beginning to scrape the fur off of it.<p>

"You humans are such disgusting creatures." Starscream said.

"Well I have to have clothes for the winter and this is just as warm or warmer than anything I could get in town." Lareina replied briefly glancing up at him, "You look a lot better today."

"Yes, my injuries are fully healed." Starscream replied.

"Does that mean you'll be leaving then?" Lareina asked hopefully.

"I don't know, if Cybertron doesn't exist in this dimension I don't really have anywhere else to go until I can figure out how to get back to my own dimension. I might as well just stay here, at least I don't have to worry about being found here." Starscream said.

"Great, just what I always wanted, an alien robot from another dimension hanging around and disturbing my peace and quite." Lareina said sarcastically, "If you're planning on staying around here and using my hanger, make sure you don't cause any trouble and stay out of my way."

"As long as you don't tell the other humans I'm here, that's fine with me." Starscream replied then walked away to look around the area.

He walked out past a chicken coup and into the barn, one half was filled with bails of hay and piles of fire wood while the other half had stalls with two horses and half a dozen goats.

Out side there was a large garden and a small field of wheat, beyond the clearing sat the lake to one side and thick forests on the other sides.

The clouds, mountains and trees that surrounded the lake reflected off of its crystal surface, a soft breeze blew, rustling the leaves in the trees and a myriad different birds could be heard singing.

From what little of earth that Starscream had seen this place was certainly the most beautiful and peaceful.

Starscream suddenly smirked, if he couldn't figure out how to get back to his own dimension and there was no Cybertron in this dimension, perhaps he could rule earth instead. If there was no Cybertron then there wouldn't be any Autobots to stand in his way and surely the humans wouldn't stand a chance against him. With the power of Primus that he still had, he could easily take over without a single shot being fired, surely once the humans saw that he could make himself bigger than their entire planet they wouldn't dare make a move against him.

He would have a palace built near on of the human cities, something large and intimidating and perhaps he would have a small vacation home built near the lake for when he needed to relax.

Several hours later Starscream had wandered to the other side of the lake, marveling at the many sounds and multitude of animals that inhabited the forest. Suddenly a loud gunshot rang out and everything went eerily silent. Across the lake he could see Lareina running into the cabin, she came back out a moment later with her bow and arrows slung over her back and a rifle in her hands as she raced off into the woods as another shot shattered the silence.

Starscream flew across the lake and followed Lareina, but stayed out of sight.

Lareina raced through the forest, her moccasins barely making a sound as she moved. A few minutes later she could hear men's voices and slowed down. A moment later she spotted two men inspecting the body of a cougar that lay on the ground.

Lareina silently moved to a better position and aimed her bow at one of the men then let the arrow fly. She was quite satisfied with the scream of pain that came from the one man as the other started to run to grab his gun. She didn't let him get too close though, an arrow striking the ground just inches from his fingers as he reached for the gun easily had him jumping back. Lareina stepped out from behind the tree she had been behind and placed herself between the men and their guns.

"What the hell is wrong with you? What do you think you're doing?" the one man demanded.

"I don't take kindly to people trespassing on my land, and I down right hate people poaching on my land, I'd suggest you and you buddy get out of here as quickly as you can or I'll lock you both up and let the rangers deal with you." Lareina replied.

"Fine, let us get our stuff."

Lareina tossed the backpack that had been sitting next to the guns to the man.

"What about our guns?"

"What these things?" Lareina asked as she picked up one of their guns, "Sorry, but I don't like people running around my forest with guns." she replied as she smashed the butt of the gun against a tree, shattering it then quickly raising her own gun as the man started to move forward to stop her. "I'd suggest you stay back if you want to leave here alive." she warned.

"We can't go anywhere, my fucking arm is stuck to a tree with an arrow through it and it won't come out!" the second man said.

Lareina rolled her eyes, "Men are such wimps" she said as she started to walk towards them, "Back up." she ordered the man who wasn't stuck to a tree.

Lareina grabbed the end of the arrow and with one less than gentle yank she pulled it out of the tree and the man's arm then stepped back, aiming her gun at the men, "Now get out of here." she ordered.

"But he's bleeding." the first man said.

"Forget it Jerry, let's just get out of here." the other said and they started to head off.

As soon as they were out of sight Lareina dropped to her knees next to the cougar, making sure it was dead. "Oh no." she whispered as she looked at it's belly.

"What? You thought it would still be alive?" Starscream asked as he came out from where he had been watching.

"No, it was nursing, it has cubs somewhere." Lareina replied.

"Cubs?" Starscream asked.

"Babies, and if I don't find them they'll starve to death." Lareina explained, whistling for the wolves then pulling the knife from her belt.

"What are you doing? I thought you were upset that it was dead, now your skinning it?" Starscream asked as Lareina started to clean the cougar.

"I'd much rather have it alive, but it's dead, there's not exactly anything I can do to change that, at least I can make sure it doesn't go to waste." Lareina replied.

Several minutes later Lareina had just finished skinning the cougar when Mowhewa and the other wolf ran through the trees.

"Mowhewa, needs name, come." Lareina called, kneeling down and letting them smell the fur, "Show me where it came from." she said then tossed the skin over a high branch as the wolfs sniffed around the clearing for a moment then headed off.

Lareina followed them and Starscream followed her, after walking for nearly half an hour the Wolves stopped at the base of a large cliff with multiple openings in the side of it, "Guess I'll just have to check each opening until I find them." Lareina said as she started to climb up the fairly steep cliff face.

"There are life forms in the opening halfway up to the right." Starscream told her.

"Thank you." Lareina said as she made her way to the opening then crawled into the narrow opening.

A few minutes later she came out with two small cubs about the size of house cats, "Can you still make yourself bigger and take them while I get down?" she asked.

Starscream hesitated a moment then made himself bigger, but instead of taking the cubs he simply scooped Lareina and the cubs into his hand then set them on the ground before making himself smaller again.

"That works too." Lareina said as she shifted her grip on the cubs a little then headed back towards the lake.

"You're arm is damaged." Starscream said a little while later when he noticed blood pouring from Lareina's left arm when she shifted the cubs so less weight would be on it.

"It's just a scratch." she replied dismissively, then after a moment of hesitation added, "But it wouldn't hurt to have a little less weight on it if you wouldn't mind carrying one of them."

Starscream took one of the cubs who then growled at him, "Watch out for the claws, they may be babies but their claws are still pretty sharp." Lareina told him.

"Is that what happened to your arm?" Starscream asked.

"Yeah, they weren't to thrilled with me taking them." Lareina replied.

Once they arrived back at the cabin Lareina made harnesses out of some rope and tied the cubs up before disappearing into the cabin for a little while. When she came back out she had a couple bottles of milk, a medical kit and a pan of boiling water.

"Here see if you can get them to eat." Lareina said tossing the bottles to Starscream before sitting down at a picnic table and started cleaning her arm up before pulling a needle and thread out of the medical kit and sterilizing them.

"What are you doing?" Starscream asked as he watched her stitch up the deepest of the scratches on her arm.

"It's too deep to just leave it open to heal, I have to sew it shut or it'll just keep pulling open and bleeding every time I use my arm." Lareina told him, "What do you do if you're hurt?" she asked.

"Weld it back together or put a patch over it which is then absorbed and becomes part of our armor." he replied.

When Lareina finished with her arm she turned to look at Starscream and was pleasantly surprised to find him sitting on the ground with both cubs sitting on his legs as he fed them, "Well I guess it'll be a good thing having you around, when I found Mowhewa and Smoky I had a hard time taking care of them and keeping up with the chores. Since they seem to like you, you can help take care of them as long as you're here." she said as she walked over and took one of the bottles and cubs.

"Why don't you have a mate to help you?" Starscream asked.

"Because men are all immoral, stupid, disgusting wastes of time and space. When I was twelve I thought I would find a wonderful man and be married by the time I was eighteen. When I was eighteen I realized finding a decent man was going to be a lot harder than I had thought, when I was twenty-one I finally admitted to myself that no matter how desperately I wanted to be married that there was a chance I would never find a decent man. When I was twenty-three I decided that today's society has left humanity with little moral structure and that there simply wasn't much chance of ever finding the type of man I wanted. I figured my chances of finding a decent man in the world were about as good as finding one out here in the middle of nowhere."

"My great aunt had always felt guilty that she hadn't been able to take me in when I was ten and my parent's died, so since she only had one son, who had never had kids and had always been in trouble with the law and had even stolen from her a couple of times, she decided to leave everything to me, which included this land. It's been in my family since my great, great, great, great grandfather bought it about two hundred years ago. He was from a wealthy family, but had run away when he was a teenager to become a trapper. While trapping he met my many greats grandmother who was Shawnee, her village was on this land somewhere. When he found out the government was going to steal the land from her tribe and sell it he went home and patched things up with his family. At least long enough to get the money he needed to buy hundreds of miles of pristine forest which he got at a good price because the government thought most of it was useless because of all the mountains and rough terrain. He came back and lived out the rest of his life with my grandmother's tribe. Eventually though the government forced the tribe onto a reservation, but my family managed to maintain ownership of the land and it was passed down from generation to generation usually with no one even bothering to come out here to see what they had inherited. Then it was passed to me and I decided if I was going to be miserably lonely the rest of my life I might as well do it out here, where I can enjoy the peace, quite and nature, feel connected to my heritage and be happy rather than dealing with the noise, pollution, and stress of living around people." Lareina told him.

"What?" she asked a second later when she noticed he had a slightly shocked look on his face.

"You answer one question and yet now bring up a dozen more." Starscream replied.

"Well what do you want to know?" Lareina asked.

The rest of the day was filled with questions and answers about Native American and American history and humans in general. Starscream even went so far as to help her with her chores as long as she continued to answer his questions.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry about the long wait, my mom's health has really been going downhill this past year causing a lot of stress which makes it harder to focus on writing and I've got too many stories I'm working on to keep them all updated regularly, but I promise sooner or later there will be updates, I've never abandoned any of my stories and doubt I ever will.

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><p>The next few days flew by as Lareina and Starscream tried to keep up with the cubs who became more energetic each day. At the moment Lareina was inside preparing her lunch while occasionally glancing out to make sure Starscream was okay with the cubs. They had been following him around and jumping at his feet all morning and wouldn't stop no matter how many times he tried to get them to leave him alone. She was a little worried that he might get angry at them if they continued to bother him. Luckily, so far he was simply sitting at the edge of the lake and seemed to be ignoring them as they climbed all over him.<p>

The next time she looked out the window Lareina nearly dropped her plate of food she was so stunned by what she saw. Starscream had taken a couple of long narrow scraps of leather, tied them together so that they were about seven feet long and was racing up and down the lake shore dragging it with both cubs racing to catch up. Setting her food down Lareina got her camera and got some video of Starscream playing with the cubs before she finally headed outside to eat. She was surprised that in the few seconds it took her to open the front door, Starscream managed to sit down, hide the toy he had made for the cubs and was sitting there looking as if he hadn't moved since she had gone inside.

"So how are you three doing?" she asked as she sat down at the picnic table to eat her lunch.

"They're still as annoying as they were when you went in." Starscream replied.

"Well they are just cubs, they need to run and play. Maybe if you would play with them instead of ignoring them they could burn off some of that extra energy. " Lareina suggested trying not to smile.

"I do not play." Starscream told her.

"Well then I can't really help you with getting them to stop bugging you. It's going to be a long afternoon for you." Lareina told him.

"Don't you mean for us?" Starscream asked.

"Nope, I'm going hunting this afternoon and you get to baby sit while I'm gone." Lareina told him.

"I have a better idea, you let me go hunting for you and you take care of your little pets, with my heat sensors and lasers it would take me no time to find you a deer." Starscream told her.

"And you're going to gut it before you bring it back?" Lareina asked fighting the urge to laugh when Starscream grimaced.

"No, I'll just fly it back so you can take care of it." Starscream told her.

"Sorry, but I prefer to hunt my own food, don't worry I'm sure you three will be just fine without me for a few hours." she told him.

An hour later Lareina leftm carrying her bow and arrows with her. Fifteen minutes later she dropped them at the entrance to a cave, pulled out a flashlight and headed into the cave.

After several minutes of descending into the cave a male voice said, "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, although you're not going to believe what's happened. How about you?" Lareina asked.

"Recovering slowly, but steadily." he replied, "What is it that's been happening outside of my cave?"

"I think you were right when you said there might be a weak spot between dimensions somewhere around here. Do you remember Starscream disappearing?" Lareina asked.

"Yes, is he here? Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

"Yes, he's here and I'm fine. He's staying in my barn right now since there's really no where else to go." Lareina told him.

"Are you sure you're safe with him around?"

"I think so, I was a little annoyed that I'd have to deal with him at first, but he's really not that bad. It's amazing what being dropped into another dimension and almost completely alone can do to a person's personality. I hate to admit it, but it's actually been kind of nice having someone around to talk to. Not to mention someone to help take care of a couple of cougar cubs I've adopted." Lareina said then explained how the cubs had ended up with her.

"Starscream really helps you take care of them? He never seemed like the type to take care of anyone but himself."

"I know, but apparently he's been doing a very good job of hiding a soft side, look at this." Lareina said pulling out her camera and showing him the video she had taken of Starscream playing with the cubs.

"Amazing. Maybe being out here and being around you could have some positive effects on him." he told her.

"So you think I should keep letting him stay with me?" Lareina asked.

"Yes, be careful of course, but he's never shown any interest in hurting humans unless it was just a way to distract the Autobots, so I think you should be safe with him." he told her.

"Okay." Lareina said, "I guess I'll come check on you again next week, I should get going, if I don't come home with something he'll either get suspicious or worse think that I can't hunt."

"I will see you again soon then. And if you would have any trouble with him come to me, I may not be able to do much yet, but I would never let you get hurt."

When Lareina returned she found Starscream lying in the grass with both cubs curled up at his sides, his eyes were dim as if he were asleep. Quietly approaching them, she pulled out her camera and got a couple of pictures before she left them to continue sleeping while she set about cleaning the rabbit she had caught.

A few days later.

Lareina pulled the hood of her raincoat up as she finished the morning chores in the barn then hesitated in the doorway for a second before running to the airplane hanger.

When she got inside Starscream was sitting at the end of the hanger that opened out onto the water, looking bored as he watched the rain, "Do you want to come up to the cabin for a while?" Lareina asked.

"Why would I want to do that? I already have to put up with you most of the time, why would I deliberately spend any more time with you than necessary?" Starscream asked.

"I just thought you might be bored out here all alone. The whether reports I've been hearing over the radio are saying this will probably last a few days. I have a few board games, I thought it would give us a way to pass the time." Lareina told him.

"I do not play stupid human games." Starscream replied.

"Alright," Lareina said turning to leave as a devious grin spread across her face, "I can certainly understand if you're afraid of being beaten, world domination, even of an imaginary world isn't easy. After I beat them several times the kids at the orphanage would say the same thing, they didn't want to play some stupid game with me, but I knew it was just because they knew they didn't have a chance of beating me. I suppose it's better to avoid failure if you're absolutely certain you will fail."

"I am a far superior being, I'm not afraid of anything a pitiful creature like you could do. I could beat you easily." Starscream told her.

Lareina turned back to face him, "Whatever you say, I'll believe it when I see it, until then I am the champion and ruler of Monopoly. If you decide you have the nerve to challenge me, I'll be in the cabin." she said before pulling the door shut behind her.

She had only gotten a few steps when Starscream came out of the hanger, "Fine, you want me to prove how much better than you I am, I'll gladly crush your cocky attitude." he said as he caught up with her.

"We'll see." Lareina said, then all signs of sarcasm dropped from her voice as she added, "Just promise me you won't do anything drastic, like damaging the game if I win, its one of the few things I still have left that belonged to my parents. We use to play it for hours."

"Alright, I promise not to damage the game in the highly improbable event that you win." Starscream told her.

They spent the rest of the day locked in a seemingly endless game of Monopoly accompanied by equally endless, sarcastic bantering, only taking breaks to feed the cougar cubs. With both of them too stubborn and determined to even declare a tie, they continued to play until well after dark.

Barely able to keep her eyes open Lareina watched as Starscream rolled the dice, then, glancing at his large pile of mortgaged properties and almost non existent pile of money she grinned. They had both mortgaged most of their properties, but Starscream still had a couple with houses on and Lareina had one hotel left which was where Starscream was about to land.

Smiling sweetly at him Lareina said, "Hmm, looks like you landed on Boardwalk, that'll be two thousand dollars please."

Starscream glared at her, "Even if I mortgaged everything I have left I wouldn't have that much." he said.

"Guess I win then." she said then added, "Don't feel bad, this was the most insanely long game I've ever played, no one has ever been able to last that long against me and it was your first time playing. We could always have a rematch tomorrow, see if you just got lucky or if you can hold out that long again before I beat you."

"Oh there will be a rematch, but I will be the one who wins." Starscream told her.

"We'll see." Lareina said, yawning as she got up and headed to her room, "I don't have a spare bed or anything, but if you can find somewhere comfortable to sleep you can stay in here tonight instead of going out in the rain. Good night." she said before shutting her door and going straight to sleep


	4. Chapter 4

Merry Christmas!

* * *

><p>When Lareina came out of her room the next morning she found Starscream asleep on the floor with both cubs curled up asleep against his sides. She couldn't help smiling, he really was adorable with them. Deciding to let them sleep she quietly put on her rain coat and slipped outside to do her morning chores.<p>

By the time she got back inside Starscream was awake and giving the cubs their bottles, "You're really good with them," Lareina said as she hung up her coat.

"I'm just doing what you told me to," Starscream replied dismissively.

"Right, I'm sure that's all it is," Lareina said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Starscream asked.

"I think it's more than just doing what I told you to, I think you really enjoy taking care of them," Lareina told him as she got her breakfast.

Starscream hesitated a moment before finally admitting, "They remind of some of the pets my sister and I had when I was a sparkling. Before the war we had zoos similar to those here on earth, only the animals came from different planets. During a battle the zoo was destroyed and the animals all escaped, my sister and I caught some of them and kept them as pets."

"Where's your sister now?" Lareina asked.

"She and my mother were killed in a battle, we lived in a neutral town, but that didn't stop Megatron from attacking it or the Autobots from fighting there. Megatron had attacked before, if they had just left him alone he would have stopped the attack before getting near where we lived, but once the Autobots started fighting him the battle spread through the whole town and killed almost everyone," Starscream said.

"If Megatron started the attack and you blame the Autobots for it spreading why did you join Megatron? Why not just stay neutral if you thought both sides were responsible?" Lareina asked.

"I didn't have a choice, Megatron found me after the battle and told me I could join him and he'd make sure I got medical care. It certainly wasn't what I wanted, my father was a scientist and Megatron attacked the lab he worked at and killed him, but I would have died from my wounds. I agreed to join Megatron so that I would live to avenge my family. I would fight the Autobots along side Megatron while plotting to kill him, take control of the Decepticons, crush the Autobots and end the war," Starscream told her.

"So you didn't like how either side was being run so you were just going to take over and deal with both? You're certainly ambitious," Lareina said as she finished her breakfast and put her dishes in the sink, "Well since it's still raining I guess it's time to get these out," she said as she pulled a pile of DVDs out of a cupboard.

"What's that?" Starscream asked.

"It's Transformers Cybertron, your show. I picked them up when I flew into town the other day, I figured we could see how accurate it is," Lareina replied, "Since it's raining, we have all day to watch them."

"Don't you have to have an electrical device to play those on?" Starscream asked.

"Yep," Lareina replied as she walked over to what looked like a wardrobe along the wall of the living room and opened it to reveal a TV, DVD player and a couple of shelves of DVDs, "I have solar panels on the roof and large batteries in the basement that they charge, we should have enough electricity to last about fifteen hours, longer if the sun comes out at all."

"So how did you go from being smart enough to notice when you were being lead into a trap, blocked and not just fighting and defeating Megatron without him having a clue what you were up to, to being stupid enough to attack your own creator?" Lareina asked that evening between episodes, "What did you plan to do if you had destroyed him?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Starscream replied not looking at her and seeming to sink farther down into the cushions of the couch.

"You know I'm not going to stop asking until you tell me why you did it? I mean in a way the reasons you joined Megatron made sense, but I just can't think of any possible reason, no matter how insane that it would make sense to attack your own creator," Lareina said.

"You know, I could just shoot you and not have to deal with your questions," Starscream replied.

"Sure you would," Lareina said sarcastically as she turned to face him, leaning her back against the arm of the couch and propping her feet in his lap, "I might believe that if I didn't know you any better, but I know you're really just a big softy and wouldn't hurt anyone who was drastically weaker than you."

"I tried to kill those humans that always hung out with the Autobots," Starscream pointed out.

"Only to get what you wanted and you knew they wouldn't be hurt because the Autobots would protect them," Lareina said, "You might as well just tell me, I'm not going to stop asking and if you did kill me I'd come back and haunt you forever."

Starscream looked her for a moment then said, "Oh for Primus sake, you really would if you could, wouldn't you?"

Lareina grinned evilly at him, "Most definitely. You would be trying to sleep and I'd be hovering around you asking you why you attacked Primus and in general making your life miserable for killing me."

"You are either the bravest or stupidest, but definitely the most annoying human I have ever dealt with," Starscream told her then sighing in resignation said, "I don't know what I was thinking, it's like all that power just made feel invincible, made me want to prove that and take on the biggest challenge I could find, which turned out to be Primus himself. It was stupid, the only explanation I can come up with for my behavior was that it-," he hesitated a moment then looking rather embarrassed he reluctantly admitted, "it was too much power for me to handle and it just scrambled my circuits to the point that I was acting without thinking or using any common sense."

Lareina couldn't help smiling, "Don't look so embarrassed, it takes a great and intelligent man to admit when he 's wrong or can't handle something," she told him.

"You really think that?" Starscream asked.

"Absolutely," Lareina replied.

"So you think I'm great and intelligent?" Starscream asked smiling.

Lareina hesitated a moment, she was use to his cocky smirk, but had never seen him smile, not a real, honest to goodness happy smile, it made her heart skip a beat and she couldn't deny that he looked quite handsome. Praying that he couldn't tell she was blushing slightly she pulled her feet away and stood up, "Well at least more intelligent than the other versions of you that I've heard of," she said dismissively as she grabbed her dinner dishes and took them to the kitchen.

Later that night once Lareina was sure Starscream was asleep and it had stopped raining she snuck out her bedroom window to avoid waking him and headed to the cave.

"What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"I couldn't sleep," Lareina replied.

"Why not? Did Starscream do something? Did he threaten or hurt you?"

"Yes, no. He didn't threaten or hurt me, I just feel like I'm going crazy being around him," Lareina told him.

"He's disrupting your peace and quite? It seems we Cybertronians are getting quite good at that," he said chuckling.

"No, it's not that, it's completely the opposite, I'm actually enjoying having him around, usually I can't stand having people around for very long, especially men, but with him the longer he's around the more comfortable and relaxed I feel with him. And he get's my sense of humor and my sarcasm, we spent most of the day yesterday playing a game with almost constant friendly sarcastic bantering going on, back in the orphanage they never got me, they always overreacted and took my sarcasm too seriously. And he's so good with the cubs and absolutely adorable with them when he doesn't know I'm watching. Then there's his smile, I don't think I'd ever seen a real happy smile from him before and-" Lareina stopped blushing as she realized how much she had said.

"You're falling in love with him, aren't you?"

"I think so. I'm going crazy aren't I?" Lareina asked.

"No, but do you think you could truly be happy with him, since he's not human?"

"I gave up hope of ever finding a man I could love a long time ago, if there's any chance for me to find love I'm not going to be picky about what the guy is as long he's sentient, but do you think there's any chance he could ever feel the same way about me?" she asked.

"I don't know. Before he showed up here I would have said it was impossible, but back then I would have said he'd let those cubs die before he'd help care for any organic and clearly he's more than just willing to help care for them, from what you've told me and showed me he seems to have become quite fond of them, so anything is possible. Just be patient and give him time, I'm sure if he does feel the same way about you it'll take him time to accept it. I'd say he's probably spent a long time looking down on anyone smaller and weaker than he is, so to accept that he's romantically interested in you may not be easy for him. All you can do is wait and see what happens, but I don't think it's impossible," he told her.

"Thank you," Lareina said hugging his arm, "Good night,"

"Good night, and try not to worry too much," he told her.

"Okay, I'll try," Lareina said before heading home.


End file.
